March 5-9 Team

Making bricks for the Torres de Babel

We’re having a great week with our team!  Tuesday morning we met with our Little Girls.  We taught them the story of the Tower of Babel, and then helped them construct Towers out of play-dough.  As always, the little ones loved spending time with their new friends from the U.S.!


In the afternoon, Julie talked with the teens about the importance of praying for, and seeking, boyfriend (and spouse) who loves Jesus. 

She ended by inviting one of the girls, Edolyn, to stand up on a bench while she stood below.  Pretend you’re a believer and I’m not, and we like each other.  You want me to go to church, but I don’t want to.  Do you think it’s going to be easy for you to pull me up, or for me to pull you down?  Some of the girls thought Edolyn would be able to pull her up.  Let’s see, said Julie. 

They grabbed hands and pulled, and as you can probably guess, it didn’t take much to make Edolyn lose her footing.  What a powerful visual of what often happens when a young person chooses to date someone who does not share her faith.

Yesterday while the students from the SI Sports site held a volleyball clinic for our other teen group, we visited some of the women in the community.  Rosemary has a lot of tough stuff going on in her life.  Along with her own spouse and two sons, she also cares for three adult brothers-in-law, niece and nephews, and others.  Cooking, cleaning, washing clothes as well as running her colmado (little store). 

To escape it all, she drinks.  She knows she shouldn’t, and she desires something more, but seems trapped in her life, and in bad choices.  We listened, cried, and prayed with Rosemary. 

Madelyn’s spouse works in Haiti because he feels he gets paid better there.    He comes home once a month, leaving Madelyn alone with their 2-year old daughter, Marjorie, for the rest of the time.  She wants to become a nurse, but with a little one, her ability to travel 30 minutes away for school is limited. 

Madelyn would like to become legally married, but her spouse says they need to wait until they’ve built a bigger house, paid some debts, bought a car.  Like Rosemary, in many ways she, too, seems trapped.  We prayed for her and her family and situation as well.

When we got back to the Site, we asked the team what they thought about what they’d seen.  They commented on how open and welcoming the women had been.  How clean their homes were, and how they displayed and cared for their things. 

If a door is open in El Callejon, it’s an invitation to visit.  There’s typically no need to make a date ahead of time, you just show up.  The women are willing to share about their lives, even things that are personal and difficult. 

What a privilege to share, even for just a while.  We know that these visits can have lasting impact, both for Rosemary and Madelyn, as well as for the women from the U.S., who will carry their stories home, continuing to pray for them.

One-on-one training

Doing some ab exercises

In the afternoon, we had a fitness class.  Phoebe taught the Adult Women how to do some standing exercises.  Although they spend most of the day moving as they cook, clean, wash, care for others, it’s not the same as focused exercise.  The women really got into it, and Phoebe was a great motivator!

Heading out to Dinner in the Community

We ended our day by having dinner in the community.  This is always one of the highlights of the outreach.  We were joined by the Social Work team from Los Higos (another small community where SI is working), at Coco’s home.  She is a great cook, and fixed us La Bandera – what Dominicans call their three staple foods – Rice, Beans and Chicken.  

Like the other women we have visited, a lot in Coco's life is difficult.  To be able to spend time together, sharing the love of Jesus as we ate her delicious food, blessed us, and we pray, her, too!

The week is going by (too!!) quickly!  Please join us in praying that we continue to share the love of Christ as we finish our time together.